May 03, 2006

Booo! I Mean, Yaaay!

I played in the WWdN last night and was doing pretty well in the first hour. Then I tried to get cute with A7 when Wonka raised my BB on the button. I thought he was trying to take the blinds, but holding KK doesn't really count as a steal, does it? I ended up being a little short stacked when I missed my flop. I got 88 a couple of hands later, but for some reason I didn't push. I just called. Apparently my brain was taking a bathroom break or something. The flop came nine high, and it checked to me. I pushed, and SB calls with two pair, nines and sixes. Booo.

So since I was out of the WWdN much earlier than I planned, I loaded up the Party cash game. I bought in to a $100 NL table, and three hands in I get QJs. I limp in MP, and one other person limps as well. The SB raises, and I call just for fun. The flop is ATx. I check, other player checks, and SB bets fairly small. I call, planning to take the pot later.

The turn is the deuce of spades, giving me a flush draw in addition to my straight draw. Sweet. I check, and small blind bets small again. I don't know why these people don't protect their hands and try to price me out. Not that I'm complaining.

I call, and the river gives me the K. Sweet, I have a nut straight. I bet out for about a third of the pot, hoping to at least get a little money out of this. He then raises me 3x. My first reaction is confusion, and I double check to make sure I have the nuts. Yep... no flush on the board. No pair on the board. I have broadway. What is this guy doing?

At this point, about a third of both of our $100 stacks is in the pot. I wonder if I can somehow get all of it in there. I reraise to $60, and he insta-pushes back at me. I gleefully call to show my rivered straight over his rivered two pair of aces and kings, doubling me up. Good thing I got knocked out of the WWdN when I did, or I would have missed out on a very nice score. Thanks for crippling me, Wonka!

I'm not sure if I technically have the bankroll for the $100 NL tables, but they have been such a joke on Party Poker that it doesn't really bother me. I will rarely put a lot of my stack in the middle, and when I do, it's usually with the nuts. So far so good.